Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-03-24
SHIRLEY CARST0NE.
Icopy14sAted r,y the American Press AssociatiOn.l
CHAPTER WI.
BY ELIZA ARcHARA


strong. Her ancestors on her fathers side Of
the house had lived TO be 100 years old, some
of them She was like her fathers side of the
house. Would she live to be 100 years old
and have to keep on facing sorrows and dis
appointments like this all the timer Then
life was serious business.
"Shirley! Shirley! Where are you9 Come
up to the.house, quickI'
1t was her brother Tom calling. She gave
a start. Was it really growing dusli She
hastened to the house Her mother met her
at the porch.
"Where have you been all this timel" she
asked. Then, without waiting for an answer,
she ran on:
"Your father rode the sorrel colt away this
afternoon. He has not come back. I'm
afraid something has happened to him What
shall dol"
Shirley gathered herself up Her heart
gave bound, and then stopped with an awful
stiffness.
(which way did he go" she asked.
"Towards Linwood."
"Where's Sam!"
"Sam has gone to a negro wedding and
won't be back tonight"
The children gathered around while they
DttlhGu, anu CHblCJ Will
pleading eyes. 1t was Shirley they all turned
to in their troubles, even then. She was her.
self in moment, the good, brave daughter
again.
acct the pony, Tom, and come with me-"
she said.
She went to the stable and saddled Pencil
ope, Ulysses mate. In five minutes she and
Tom were on the road to Linwood. Through
kln,,
By the light streaming from the window they
discerned q group of persons at the door of
Simpkins' grocery. A small boy was telling
something to the rest, throwing his arms
about in excitement 1t was the baby tramp,
little Rip Shirley heard these words:
ale spoke to me sassy, and he says, Stop,
there, you little devil Gee! but he said it
sassy. Then he kicked his heels into the
horses sides, an he spoke to him like he was
the boss, and told him to go on. But the
horse shook his head to tell him he wouldn't.
Then the horse jumped on his hind legs like
this, and fell over. The man was throwed
out into the road. The horse didn't get up
again, and the man didn't get up again.
They're layin' out there in the road yet, you
betln
Shirley listened with pale lips. at is my
father" she exclaimed. "Where was it,
boyg"
"Out there" said the child, jerking his
thumb over his shoulder.
ats out on the State Line turnpike. Come
Tom, quick"
She was off again, like the wind
''Good Lord, twas Col Carstone!" ex-
claimed Mis- Simpkins. "What if she goes
out alone in the dark and finds her father
dead' Men! follow her quick!"
Friendly souls, half a dozen stalwart men,
pursued the girl as rapidly as they might on
horseback. A wagon was hastily got in read
iness and sent after.
Never again had Shirley ride like that.
She was a strong, hopeful girl, and always
looked at the bright side. But now she was
overwhelmed with an awful presentiment Of
something, she knew not what. From the
first moment she expected the worst.
Four miles out from Linwood the State
Line pike passed through wide, lonely val
ley, wooded at the sides and fringed with q
dense, damp underground of bushes 1t was
the middle of June. The sky was overcast
with blacknesS SO that scarcely star shone.
Yet the valley was lit by ten million lamps.
An innumerable swarm of firefes danced
above the underground. The damp air was
one glow of intermitting, phosphorescent
light Never before, or afterward, did Shir-
lev see flrehies in such gleam of splendor.
In after years she never looked at one Of
these light bringing creatures that it did not
recall that night.
Into the heart of this valley, into the black
ness set Off by millions of infnitesimal, flick
ering stars: into the loneliness and silence,
Shirley and her awed young brother rode.
They saw two motionless, formless objects
lying dark against the dim, white turnpike.
A nameless terror clutched their young hearts
with an icy hand. Tom gave cry which
was echoed back from the hillsides.
They dismounted. The friendly riders that
galloped up little later found Shirley sitting
in the middle of the lonely road with some
thing in her lap, unknowingly swaying back
and forth, and moaning:
40 my father! My father!"
Little Tom stood close beGide her, holding
the horses, and weeping bitterly. 1t was u
sight to weaken the stoutest hearts.
And still the myriad flrefies danced up and
down, and CLEANED through the blackness
with their quivering, weird sparkles
1t was the thoughtfulness of little Mis-
Simpkins that sent the doctor down the road.
He examined tho cold, senseless form.
"He is not dead, he told them. HE is
still breathngl Lift him into the wagon.
Therel Careful! Get back and give him
air. Shirley, get in, and hold your fathers
head on your lap. Jim Sweet, lead her horse
and mine will go in the wagon, too"
So, through the darkness, the mournful
train headed toward the stone house. Gentle
and kindly, if rough hands, laid Col. Car
stone in his own bed that night. His wife
wept and moaned as one bereft of her senses.
1t was Shirley who directed the men where
to place him; Shirley who took the doctors
directions and listened to his verdict; Shirley
who sat beside her fathers couch and watched
with sharpened eyesight for sign of returning
consciousness.
The patient had suffered conclusion of the
brain, and was in q state of stupor. How
severe the injury was could not be as yet
ascertained. All night Shirley sat there. At
daylight the rustic neighbors and people
from the village poured into the house. The
porch was full of them They gathered in
the broad Railways and peered over one
another's shoulders through the door and
windows Here was an event, something out
of the usual. They were making the most of
it, like Fourth of July or suicide. There
was nobody to keep them off.
As the sun began to climb the heavens, the
injured man stirred family The first row
of the gaping crew reported the fact duly to
the row behind and SO the report spread
through the ranks Struggling on the out
Gl.irte xvaS tow -haaded Huohia Cartar little